New MacBook Pro's are here (finally)! And with that, comes a slew of upgrades! The new computers have been awaited since the release of the 2016 MacBook Pro's. Before that, the Pro's weren't a lot different from the MacBook Air, except for better processors and displays. In 2016, the Pro's got a major redesign. With the inclusion of the Touch Bar and upgraded speakers, those laptops were near the best available at the time. Now, these new Pro's make those look somewhat weak.
The 13-inch model comes either with the Touch Bar, or without. If you purchase it without the Touch Bar, it starts at $1,299. If you get it with the Touch Bar, it starts at $1,799. Unfortunate to some, the new Pro's only come in Silver or Space Gray.
Without the Touch Bar
This model didn't receive an upgrade. It is still the same computer that was released in 2016 without the Touch Bar. It comes with a dual-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processor. It comes with 8GB of RAM expandable to 16GB. At base specs, it comes with 128GB of SSD storage, but can be upgraded to 512GB, or 1TB of SSD storage.
With the Touch Bar
This model, unlike the other 13-inch laptops, did get a major upgrade. New Intel processors, and a quieter keyboard are just some of the new features.
The Display
Apple calls this the "13-inch model", but really, the screen measures 13.3 inches diagonally. It is an LED-backlit display with IPS technology (IPS, or In Plane Switching, is a technology developed for LCD screens that widens the possible viewing angles). The resolution wasn't improved, at 2560-by-1600, with 227 pixels per inch. This is still, by all means, a very good display. This is the first MacBook Pro to have a True Tone display. What this means, is that a sensor senses the light and color tones around you, and adjust the display so the viewing experience is better.
Processors
Without upgrading, this laptop comes with an 8th generation 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor. It has Turbo Boost speeds of up to 3.8GHz, and has 128MB of eDRAM, which stands for embedded Dynamic Random-Access Memory. You can upgrade this to a 2.7GHz 8th Generation quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost up to 4.5 GHz, also with 128MB of eDRAM.
The graphics processor included is Intel's Iris Plus Graphics 655. This is not able to be upgraded like the graphics processing unit on the 15-inch Pro.
Storage and Memory
This laptop comes with 256GB of SSD storage, but is configurable to 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB.
This laptop also comes equipped with 8GB of 2133MHz LPDDR3 onboard memory (RAM). It can be boosted to 16GB.
Ports
Unfortunately, Apple has stuck with the four Thunderbolt 3 ports, instead of using more common ports. Because of this, you will have to purchase lots of dongles in order to have the same connectivity of computers with a wider variety of ports. As with the 2016 MacBook Pro's, you can charge the computer through any of the four USB-C ports. Each of these ports can also be used for exporting the display, Thunderbolt data transfer (up to 40 Gigabits per second), or USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10 Gbps). The display port and USB 3.1 both need an external dongle that has to be purchased separately. Apple sells all of the attachments that you would need for the MacBook Pro's, but there are third party companies that make better products, and even some that sell full connectivity ports. These plug into two of the Thunderbolt 3 ports, and then have several ports that are nearly a necessity on a laptop. An image of this is to the side.
Keyboard and Trackpad
Not surprisingly, the keyboard is a full size standard layout keyboard. It does have a few tricks though. One of these being that it is slightly quieter than the 2016 Pro's. People that have used both, say that it isn't much different, but the newer keyboard is a little quieter. The Touch Bar replaces the Function row at the top of a standard keyboard, and includes an integrated Touch ID sensor. The keyboard also has an ambient light sensor, which enables it to automatically adjust its brightness to its surroundings.
The trackpad is still the giant rectangle that it became in 2016. It has Force Touch, which basically means it is more responsive and gives you added precision in cursor control. The trackpad has pressure-sensing capabilities that enable Force clicks, accelerators, pressure sensitive drawing, and Multi-Touch gestures, according to the Apple website.
Camera and Video Support
Unfortunately, the new Pro's still come with the same 720p FaceTime camera. This is nothing impressive, and really shouldn't be used for much more than the occasional video call, because of its poor quality.
The Pro can simultaneously support full native resolution on its own display at millions of colors, while:
- supporting one display with 5120-by-2880 resolution at 60Hz at upwards of a billion colors
- supporting up to two displays with 4096-by-2304 resolution at 60Hz at millions of colors
- supporting up to two displays with 3840-by-2160 resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors
This is pretty amazing, but you may want to plug in to a power source, because running displays that large will kill your battery pretty fast
For Thunderbolt 3 video output, the Pro supports Native DisplayPort output over USB-C, as well as VGA, HDMI, and Thunderbolt 2. for the last three, you need to purchase adapters which are sold separately.
Audio
In 2016, Apple completely redesigned the speaker layout, and greatly improved it. This year's Pro's come with that same high dynamic range speaker system manufactured by Dolby Laboratories. There are three microphones placed strategically on the computer, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Battery and Power
The battery life didn't get improved, but with the ten hours that Apple says its device can run, you would be fine even if you used the device heavily. Apple also says that you can get up to ten hours of iTunes movie playback, but they don't say at what speaker volume or display brightness the laptop can achieve this. From a full battery, you can leave the laptop in standby for 30 days before it dies. It is equipped with a 58 watt-hour lithium-polymer battery, and through a 61 Watt USB-C power adapter.
Size and Weight
The laptop is pretty thin, at 0.59 inches. It is 11.97 inches wide, and 8.36 inches deep. The weight is the same, at just over three pounds, but can vary slightly depending on the configuration of the hardware.
Other
The 2018 Pro's come equipped with Bluetooth 5.0. The operating temperatures have a much narrower range than the iPhone (50 to 95 degrees fahrenheit), but its not like you're going to have a MacBook in your pocket while you are tubing in 10 degree weather. It was tested at up to 10,000 feet of elevation, and can be stored at up to 15,000 thousand feet.
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